Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1887-02-10
The prohibition ous.tlon-Another view

ENRON HrR,1p AND TnrBuNE.-Your
correspondent Of last week. X. shows
bimself one Of those enthusiasts who can
and do effect greater injury 10 the cause
of tempe-ance than any Of its straight
out ~opponents. No doubt he is a
thoroughly honest. conscientious man,
but his evident Calyinistic training
teaches him to believe his own views in
fallible. and makes him. in his W sight
right in c~ondemning. even to the stake,
any whose opinions run counter to his
own. This intolerant class Of people can
see but one thing. the desired goal far
ahead. and thew rush for II blindly. heed.
inc nothing, caring for nothing. and
without regard for the ~opinions or even
the vested rights of the balance Of their
fellow mortals. They see as we all do,
the baneful effects Of intemperance, and,
like the ouack doctor with his patent nos.
trum cure all, propose to dose us with
their WI Intangible, half worked out
ideas, regardless of the patient consti.
| tuition, or of his right either to take or
refuse the specific as he sees ct.
1t Is this spirit Of intolerance, this idea
that "the end iustiies the means" how.
ever wrong or crooked the means may be,
that is working the greatest injury to the
cause of true temperance. l write from
the standpoint of q temperance man, op.
posed to the use of liquor In any form,
and to whom the liquor traffic is pecu-
liarly obnoxious, but unlike loo many nd.
vocates, l do not forget either the fact
that I am but one man. or that Others
have rights as dear and as sacred to them
as are mine to me. 1t may be that the
Tennessee legislature will succeed In do
ing what no other body has been able tc
do. lcgislate morality into existence, If Il
can; or, if it can even devise means Il
check the evil, then 1t will have done 9
great work, and have justified Its exist
ence. With the question Of the prohibi
ton amendment, as referred to by x II
the first paragraph of his communication
we do not propose TO DEAL strther thai
to say, If the people desire 1t, let then
give 1t a trial, but in doing 1t, let them b
honest and act upon the basis Of presen
existing rights.
It is the third paragraph, especially til
opening sentence. that calls forth III
criticism In the beginning Of this letter
Your correspondent SAYS: 'sThe whisk
men have no rights undor the constitr
ton" because their business requires
State license. OF course as a sensibl
man, he realizes that this Is q most in
potent reason for such an outrageor
opinion, but 1t sounds bettefin print tina
t the real one which summed In a fc,
words is, II am right because Pm RICH
YOU are wrong and must suffer becau,
:, you dare differ"
Are not the whisky men" our fello
r citizens, even though they are engaged
a business which we do not admire? TIL
. is a country where every man may folio
+. the calling Of his choice, IL 1t be not 70
: hidden by appropriate legislation, and u
4 Ill 1t is so forbidden he Is invited to ent
q it, invest his money and make his bu,
y ness relations, under the sanction and
curity of the law. There are in the Sta
many men whose sense Of moral feelil
o has not prevented them, under this IL
II piled protection, from investing thu
money in the business of making and Sc
d ing liquor, their fortunes are there, 1t
Il the means Of their livelihood, and for I
State to blot out all this at one stroll
d making no PREPARATION, would be to do
act Of the rankest injustice, and o
which no court would sanction.
Our friends in Bristol and Greeneyi
with their great tobacco warehouses; {
le engaged in a business which REQUIRE
in l~icence running mot longer than a Y,
a, a ,;mon Meas v moop "a cor 4,